SOUTH African Davis Cup captain Marcos Ondruska has made no changes to his squad, which will go guns-a-blazing into their Euro/Africa Zone Group 2 Round 2 Davis Cup tie against Slovenia from April 7 to 9 at the Irene Country Club.
The KIA Motors South Africa sponsored squad to take on the Slovenians comprises Lloyd Harris, Nik Scholtz, Raven Klaasen, Ruan Roelofse and Tucker Vorster.
The same squad faced Estonia at home in February and won comfortably 4-1 to earn their spot in the Euro/Africa second round. A win in April by South Africa will see them playing for promotion into Euro/Africa Zone Group 1 next year.
Tennis South Africa (TSA) has announced that rising star Sipho Montsi would join the squad as an official hitting partner. Montsi, who is from Pretoria, recently caught the eye of Judy Murray, mother of Andy Murray, while competing in the junior Australian Open. Judy Murray commented that Sipho was “one of the most naturally talented players” she had seen.
“It feels great to be part of the Davis Cup squad at my age, as well as being the youngest player in the squad. It is always an honour to represent my country and I know I’ll learn a lot from the senior players in the squad as well as coach Ondruska. I’m really looking forward to it,” said Montsi.
Ondruska will be forced to trim the squad down to four players by the start of the tie, but he does at least have a plethora of riches to choose from.
Despite South Africa’s top player Kevin Anderson not making himself available for the tie, Ondruska said he was pleased that the country’s second highest ranked singles player, Lloyd Harris, was available.
“I am delighted to have our strongest team together again. All the players have been working hard and have had some good success on the ATP Tour since the previous tie and I’m hoping that supports what I am expecting to be an incredible tie. It will be our toughest test yet. All the Slovenian players are very good players, having been around the Top 50 in the world. I am confident in our side and it should be a spectacular event for tennis fans,” said Ondruska.
Harris, who turned 20 years last month, has made incredible progress on the world rankings, climbing some 250 spots in the last eight months. At the end of 2016, Harris won six consecutive Futures titles in Egypt and at home in Stellenbosch, and reached a career-high ranking of 266.
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